more release

04-11-2014, 12:33 PM

Dan - I've been riding a Dominator for about 4 months now and I'm really impressed with the board. One thing I'd like more of is release. At the moment of take-off I could use a bit more get-up and go, so I'm thinking the Spitfire, with it's wider tailblock, would be the ticket. I'd try one myself to find out for sure but I'm in a remote area with no opportunity to demo. Thoughts ?

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We'll you could def play with fins to tune it up for more drive/release. What foil is on those quad rears?

The spitfire would push you in the right direction. The straighter rail line off the tail and wider tail block area will get you what you're looking for, plus the step rail in the tail will no doubt help with managing all that volume at your weight.

If you're looking to replace the board I think the Spitfire or even the Hellfire are good picks, but if you'd rather spend less, tweaking fins would help get your current board closer. Maybe try the k2.1 quad set.

Not sure if you're in a similar scenario to me. I've been surfing in South Africa since I was 13, being 43 now... that's a lot of shortboard thrusters through decades of board design change. I have never surfed a board longer than 6'3 being 80-85kgs. I changed to firewire about a year ago and bought a 5'6 Potatonator and 5'11 LSD (Chubby Chedda). To cut a long story short :)

Things I had problems with:
1. Future Fins (Out of the 5 sets of fins I owned I had to have 4 sets replaced - due to fins being twisted or different cambers)
anyway I believe this had something to with a Thailand factory which apparently is now sorted, check them (although yours fcs) as my mulcoys felt like somebody dropped an anchor out the back everytime I got to my feet.
2. This could quite possibly help :)
On takeoff, I was used to applying a lot of front foot pressure as my backfoot would play more of a guiding roll, this use to always work on my pu boards and I could get a lot of squirt on takeoff, once I was upto speed, I would naturally centre my weight before weighting and unweighting for turns. (it was just drive on takeoff)

Since moving to firewires (well to the 2 boards mentioned above) I have found I was lagging on takeoff and at times was embarrassing...
I was advised (on this forum) to apply a little more pressure on the backfoot (between the fins) on takeoff and although it felt a bit awkward at start it has actually changed the way I ride my pu boards for the better :) Sorry for the essay... hope something here helps :)

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Hey - Phil & Phill - thanks for the replys - my rear fins are flat foiled inside. I'll play with the pressure on the back foot and see if it helps. If I take off at an angle on a steeper face I'm ok as the fins grab earlier and get me going. It's taking off straight where I would like a little more get up and go. I'm searching for a Spitfire now to see if it does the trick. Gotta say though the Dominator is one helluva board. Thanks.

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I'm not sure when you say "release" whether you want the board to slide a little on turn completion or you want more drive. I have the feeling you want more drive. Bigger fins with more rake should give you that. Try the GAM fronts with QPX rears. Or go thruster. If you do mean release try the PC5 or similar.

I meant to add by the way the right fins in the Dom will be much more likely to resolve the drive issue in the Dom than getting a Spit. A Spit with the same fins will give much the same result. I'm a bigger guy on a 6'4" Dom and after using PC7's and GAM's I ended up really liking the K3's. They're a touch smaller than the first two fins but offer lots of drive. Because they're a touch smaller they're also looser. As a fully fledged Aussie bogan (just kidding) who has seen Kelly rip numerous world titles from the hands of deserving Aussie champs it pains me to say I like his fins, but I do.

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Buzzy - not talking about a drive issue - some boards let go of water faster than others and as a result are faster sliding into waves - this is before one even jumps up. My experience is wider tail boards will do this faster than round tails. But thanks for your info on the fins.

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Hey retired, i imagine you mean the board responding quicker and earlier to the push of wave? As you mentioned, a wider tail would help, along with less kick in the tail rocker and/or more volume in the tail. Also i found on some boards (spitfire but especially the hellfire) that switching from thruster fins to a quad set with tiny rears really transformed the speed of the board while keeping it loose. I could feel the wave pick me up and shoot me forward earlier and instantly quicker. On the hellfire, my impressions of it went from average to awesome, but it's not the same on all boards. Also as both Phils mentioned, play with fins as this can greatly affect the overall feel of a board and try and put more weight on your back foot, or stand right back against your tailkick. I also found on the dominator and spitfire that they'd bog right down and almost come to a standstill if you moved your feet or weight forward when you try and extend your ride towards the end of a fat wave, whereas you could almost noseride and pump a hellrazor all the way to the shore standing on the front half of the board. Whether it's to do with the front half of the board's rocker or outline, the nose width or thickness, who knows? I'd say persist with experimenting on your dominator, but if you're cashed up, try a spitfire or hellfire. I did prefer the tail bite of the spitfire moreso than the dom, but the hellfire even moreso as an all-conditions board, and now the hashtag which is so fluid. Sorry for the long-winded rant. Good luck with it.

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Just to add, the switch from a thruster setup to quads (on an el fuego as well) helped alleviate some of those times when i found myself seemingly forever hung at the top of the lip eventually coming down with it with no time left to make the section, thinking 'i should've paddled harder into it or 2 more strokes'. The quads helped to give that burst and release to make it down the face ahead of the lip.